Saturday, October 27, 2007

What happened while I was not in Kiev.

I just got back to Kiev from Kolomyia in western Ukraine. I didn't get as much meat sight-seeing done as I might have hoped but I had a fantastic time. The B&B where I stayed, On the Corner, was wonderful. Most especially wonderful was the food, courtesy of the owner Vitaly's mother, Ira. Oh. My. God. She is an absolute master. Her cooking is fantastic, but watching her is almost as amazing. I love watching a home cook who is just an absolute paragon of efficiency and skill. It was funny, I speak nary a word of Ukrainian, and she speaks very little English, but we managed to converse fairly well about food. I'm nowhere the cook she is, but at least I know enough to ask the right questions, and she knew enough about the right questions to ask that she understood me. I have determined that I must go back and learn everything she knows.

I met two sausage makers, neither of whom I will talk of at great length because I'm saving it for the book, save to say that they were great characters. Especially Misha with his taxidermy and animal-loving and Yulia Timoschenko obsession... But I've said too much.

And Hurrah for my interpreter Oksana! We must all pray that she gets into the Wagner School at NYU, because she deserves it and because I want to hang out with her more.

Now, though, I'm going to go find an expat bar and hang out. I need a cocktail and Ameri-speech. Call me weak, I can take it.

5 Comments:

I read Julie and Julia over my 2-wk Christmas vacay to Upstate NY and loved it. Unfortunately I have picked up your potty mouth. Oh well, a nice re-reading of the Mitford series will take care of that. You have inspired me to cook through a cookbook myself, but so as not to copy you I will probably do something like Mr. Food or White Trash Cooking, even. Anyway, got home and had to check you out on line and glad I found your new blog. Any pics of your husband around here? I have a picture in my mind and I have a feeling I'm not too far off. I have found that these wonderful, patient, long-suffering husband types are physically similar :-) What a dumb-ass thing to say I'm sure but I had to ask. Wonderful book!

If you decide to go to Ukraine for vacation or a business travel, you will probably need an interpreter or local guide. Ukraine Travel Directory created a list of the best Kiev interpreters to help foreign tourists. You will also find there contacts of apartments, hotels, hostels, taxis, theatres, cafes, fast foods and everything you may need for a comfortable Ukraine tourism.